The Romantic Failure

Description

Condition:       No condition to report.

Description by Artist:     “When bad luck and bad relationships leave an artist feeling battered and bruised, it is no surprise to find his alter ego portrayed as fragmented and shattered. In “The Romantic Failure” Riel turns to cubism once more to convey the competing thoughts and emotions swirling around his brain. It is an image of The Best Man we have not seen before. Despite the visual tension, Riel says the painting shows that The Best Man has accepted and even embraced his fate as a romantic failure. It is a way of coming to terms with reality and beginning to heal, a way of getting on with his life, a celibate life. The rainbow in the window affirms the promise of a brighter tomorrow.  As for the diminutive young woman in the cup, she is no longer Riel’s cup of tea.” – ALLAN J. RYAN, Riel Benn’s “Best Man”: An Unlikely Successor to Iktomi’s Trickster Legacy, AMERICAN INDIAN ART MAGAZINE, SPRING 2010

A romantic failure I have been. – Riel Benn

Notes from DaVic Gallery:  punctures like knife to the heart.  Not for Riel’s story but for how we may relate to the painting.  Riel pours his soul wide open in the matters of the heart.  That person we gave all of ourselves to and that one point we realize it’s useless, but moving on is not that simple for the pain caused is deep.